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Young Mother Gazing at Her Child

1871
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 827

This doting mother in picturesque dress and her angelic offspring are two of many such figures that Bouguereau painted with an eye to the international market. The scene is highly similar in subject and composition to Breton Brother and Sister, also dated 1871 (hanging nearby), and both works were bought by New York collectors—a testament to the popularity that the artist’s scenes of "princesses dressed up as milkmaids" enjoyed in America.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Young Mother Gazing at Her Child
  • Artist: William Bouguereau (French, La Rochelle 1825–1905 La Rochelle)
  • Date: 1871
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 56 x 40 1/2 in. (142.2 x 102.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Zene Montgomery Pyle, 1993
  • Object Number: 1993.402
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Art and Literature, William Bouguereau French, Lithograph
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1882
Two Sleeping Children, William Bouguereau French, Black chalk, heightened with white chalk
Two Sleeping Children
William Bouguereau
n.d.
Mignon Pensive, from "Illustrated London News", William Bouguereau French, Wood engraving
Mignon Pensive, from "Illustrated London News"
William Bouguereau
Goupil & Co.
August 17, 1872
The Proposal, William Bouguereau French, Oil on canvas
The Proposal
William Bouguereau
1872
Breton Brother and Sister, William Bouguereau French, Oil on canvas
Breton Brother and Sister
William Bouguereau
1871

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